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10 Sep 2011

When I was ten I was asked to make my favorite fish recipe for Home Economics, or Cookery as it was called then. All of my friends chose things like fish fingers and fish and chips but not me, I went for a decidedly more complex fish pie! Even at the age of ten I was full of high hopes and expectations! As you have probably already gathered, the pie was a disaster of epic proportions, undercooked and badly put together mush! Never the less, I was proud as punch. I took my little pie dish home, placed it on the dining table and stood back to await my families praise. It never came, instead of praise the dining room was filled with groans of disgust. I was devastated and while the rest of the family opted to eat something else for dinner, I stayed true to my pie, and it was disgusting! So disgusting in fact, that until around a year ago I had never allowed fish in any form to pass my lips. Even a glance at a fish finger brought back that horrible day back in 1993.

After years of fish dodging I finally decided enough was enough, the hatred of those slimy little buggers was deep rooted in my mind rather than an actual dislike for the taste. I started delving back into the world of seafood, starting small with fish fingers and a battered cod before working my way up to king prawns and salmon. I still have a long way to go, the sight of a little prawn is still enough to induce floods of tears and the very thought of trout makes me gag but I'm sure my journey will be filled with pleasant surprises.

This is one meal I can not live without these days. Quick, easy and certainly doesn't scrimp on taste it's a winner for any midweek dinner! I use udon noodles rather than the finer variety as I prefer the texture but you can substitute for your favorite kind.

Curry Crusted Salmon with Singapore Noodles

(Adapted from Nigella Express)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons medium Madras curry powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon sugar

4 salmon fillets, approx. 200g each

1 x 15ml tablespoon garlic oil

For the Noodles:

250g vermicelli rice noodles (I used udon)

50g dried shrimp (I left these out, bleurgh!)

125ml Chinese cooking wine

1 x 15ml tablespoon garlic oil

100g finely sliced Chinese leaf

125g baby corn, sliced into thin rounds

2 spring onions, finely sliced

2 teaspoons medium Madras curry powder

1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

250ml chicken stock (from concentrate)

3 x 15ml tablespoons soy sauce

150g beansprouts

4 x 15ml tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

Method

Mix the curry powder, salt and sugar in a wide, shallow dish and dredge the salmon in this, turning the pieces all over in the rub.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and cook the salmon fillets on a high heat for about 2-3 minutes a side, searing the sides of the fillets too if they are very thick.

Put the rice noodles into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave them to soak for 4 minutes and then drain them.

Soak the dried shrimp in the wine, then heat the oil in a wok and fry the Chinese leaf, baby corn and spring onions for a few minutes.

Add the curry powder and finely chopped ginger to the wok, and then the chicken stock and soy sauce. Pour in the shrimps, with their wine, and the drained, soaked noodles, tossing and shaking everything all together in the wok.

Finally, stir in the beansprouts and give a final toss, before turning out into a bowl and sprinkling with the coriander.